Life On Mars
by cherrycokerocks
Summary: He thought it was bad when he woke up the first time but nothing compared to the second time. Maria/Jeff, Randy Orton/Melina and many more. Challenge fic. Please R & R.
1. Chapter 1

Fic: Life On Mars  
Author: And/Cherrycokerocks  
Paring: Maria/Jeff, Randy Orton, lots more appearing.  
Rating: T for now.  
Disclaimer: I own nothing, only the plotline. Everything else is Vince's or the WWEs.  
Summary: He thought it was bad when he woke up the first time but nothing compared to the second time.  
Spoilers: None really.  
Warnings: Strong Language, adult situations.  
Notes: Answer to my own challenge over at the wrestle_fic LJ community. I started this fic a couple of years ago but now I'm rewriting with my new favourite pairing. Raw and Smackdown rosters are joined. ECW is still on it's own but most people work all three shows. Oh and Randy isn't really Maria's brother. Everything which takes place Elsewhere ... is not really happening. It will make sense later on or at least I hope so.

Chapter One

Jeff Hardy rounded the corner backstage at this week's Smackdown tapings. Pulling his suitcase behind him, he wasn't really watching where he was going and smacked straight into someone. He was about to apologise when he realised who it was, "Oh, it's you."

The redhead glared at him, "Is that all you can say? You almost knocked me to the ground."

"Keyword being almost and ya know what they say? Almost doesn't count," Jeff replied sarcastically.

"Trust me it will count when I kick you in the balls because you," she made air quotes with her fingers, "Almost knocked me to the ground."

"What crawled up your ass and died this time?" The annoyance in his voice was clear. "Or is it just PMS?"

"You did not just go there!"

He smirked at her, "Actually, I think you'll find I did."

"Well that's just typical of you isn't it." It was a statement not a question. "You never know when to quit. You always gotta push, don't ya, Jackass?"

Jeff shrugged, "It comes naturally when I'm talking to a bitch like you."

"I'm not a bitch. Maybe if your head wasn't so far up your own ass, you'd be able to see that. And then you could look where you're fucking going." She started to stomp off when he reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back towards him.

"Where do you think you're going? This ain't over."

She shot him a look of disgust. Get your grubby little hands off me, Jeff."

He immediately released her, "Good idea, cause I don't know where you've been. Fucking bitch."

"What did you just call me?"

"I think you heard."

"Why don't you do the world a favour and drop dead." She huffed and walked away before he could retort.

"Fucking bitch," he yelled at her retreating back.

She raised her hand and flipped him off as she carried on walking.

He waited until she was out of sight before he continued on this way to the arena parking lot. Their conversation running through his mind as he walked. It didn't take him long to reach his rental. He jumped in and was about to speed off when something he saw out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Maria and Randy were laughing at something as they were putting their bags in the trunk of Randy's rental. He glared at them briefly before speeding off, tires screeching as he did so.

"Who the fuck was that moron?" Randy asked, looking up at the car.

"Who do you think? Jeff fucking Hardy. I had a run in with him a couple of minutes ago. Literally, actually. He nearly knocked me to the floor. He wasn't watching where he was going as usual."

Randy shook his head, "What am I going to do with you two eh? Bang your heads together?"

Maria just shrugged, "We just don't get along, probably never well."

"Come on, let's get out of here." He opened the passenger side door for her.

Jeff had been driving for about twenty minutes. It was raining pretty hard and road conditions were getting worse by the second. Despite this, Jeff hadn't slowed down at all since he'd left the arena. He was still pissed with what had happened with Maria earlier. He thought back to the last words she'd said to him. She'd told him to drop dead. "Fucking bitch," he muttered.

And that's when it happened. He looked at the road ahead of him. There was something in the road. He slammed on his brakes but with all the standing water from the rain, the car skidded as he tried to avoid the animal in the road, "Fucking deer." Those were the last words to come out of his mouth before the car overturned and his world faded to black.

Randy and Maria were a couple of miles down the road. Despite her earlier run in with Jeff, the redheaded diva was now in a great mood. She was happily signing along with the radio.

"What the fuck?" Randy said, covering his eyes slightly as on coming vehicle flashed their headlights at him repeatedly. Randy slowed to a stop and wound down the window as the other car pulled up along side of his car. "Are you out of your mind? Are you trying to blind me?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. You're the first car I've come across. There's been an accident back there and I don't have a cell phone. Can you call 911?"

"Of course. My friend will call the cops and we'll head back to the accident, okay?"

It only took a few minutes for them to get there. Maria instantly recognised the over turned car, "Oh my god, that's Jeff's car."

"What?"

"That's Jeff's car," Maria repeated.

Five minutes later, flashing lights were surrounding the car. A further twenty minutes later Jeff had been recovered by the ambulance crew and was being place in the vehicle.

Maria was shaking and Randy was doing his best to comfort her. "This is my fault."

"Of course it isn't, Ria. It was an accident."

"Excuse me, How he is?" Maria asked one of the paramedics as they passed.

"Do you know him?"

"Yeah, he's our co-worker," Randy replied.

The paramedics face turned grim, "It doesn't look good. I'd be surprised if he makes it."

"No, no, no, no, no," Maria repeated.

"Maria, this isn't your fault," Randy reassured her.

"Of course it is, I told him to drop dead."

Elsewhere …

Jeff opened his eyes slowly, half expecting to be in a hospital only it looked more like a hotel room. Scratch that, it was a hotel room. He just couldn't remember how he'd got there. He looked towards the window, noticing a stream of sunlight coming into the room. The noise of a door opening brought his attention back to the other side of the room. He turned his head just in time to see someone run to the bottom of the bed and dive under the covers.

"What the fuck?"

He heard a muffled giggle and then whoever it was started licking his leg. He flicked on the light on the nightstand and slowly lifted the covers. The first thing he saw was a mass of bright electric blue hair and then she lifted her head to look at him, grinning as she did so. "Morning, baby."

Too stunned to reply and probably the first time he'd ever been lost for words in his life, he simply dropped the covers back down again.

He could feel her working her way up his body, dropping single kisses on various places as she went. It didn't take long for her head to appear from under the sheets.

She grinned at him again, "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"Maria?"

"Erm … yes?"

"What are you doing?"

She frowned at him, "If you have to ask, I must being doing something wrong. You don't usually complain."

"I didn't say I was complaining," he said before he could stop himself.

"Nero, are you okay?"

"Nero? That's not my name." Jeff protested.

"Well duh, of course I know that."

He shot her a confused looked, "Then why'd you call me it?"

"Because I call you it all the time. You're acting a little strange this morning."

"You're the one acting all weird ass. What's with the hair?"

This time it was Maria's turned to be confused, "I haven't done anything to it." She was about to ask him something else when her cell phone started ringing on the nightstand. She reached over and grabbed it. Not recognising the number on the caller id, she answered cautiously, "Maria Hardy."

Jeff's eyes nearly popped out of his head, "What the fuck?"

She squatted his arm as she carried on her conversation, "Oh hey, where are you? … Oh right, I see … Yeah he's awake. Okay, see you later … love you too." She ended the call and tossed her cell phone back on nightstand.

"Maria Hardy?"

"Now you're official scaring me. Do you have amnesia? … Okay, that was a really stupid question, don't answer that." She shook her head and rolled off him onto the other side of the bed.

Despite the fact he didn't have a clue what was going on he had to laugh a little at her amnesia question. "We're married?"

"Yup, for nearly two years now. Oh god, I knew we should have gone to the hospital last night. I'm going to kill Dolph Ziggler." She sat up, not seeming to care that she had no top on.

"Are you naked?"

Maria laughed, "Nope, I'm wearing a thong. Is seeing my boobs making you uncomfortable?"

"No, but it's kinda distracting, if you know what I mean?" Was he flirting with her? He shook his head.

"Right. I guess I should put on a shirt and then we can figure out what's going on with you." She got out of bed and bent down to retrieve a shirt from the floor and pulled it over her head. She sat down on the bed.

Jeff recognised the shirt as one of his favourite but said nothing. He had enough information to take in without asking her about that.

"What do you remember about last night?"

"You and me having that argument and then when I was driving back to the hotel, there was a deer in the road and I tried to avoid it."

"Babe, none of that happened. First of all we didn't have an argument. We never argue. And second, I think that was all a dream because you were yelling out in your sleeping last night. Fucking deer or something like that," she informed him.

"A dream?"

"Yeah, you were in a match last night with Dolph Ziggler. He fucked up the chair shot and knocked you out cold. You were out for like a minute or so. I wanted to take you to the hospital but of course you refused."

"I hate hospitals."

"I know you do, babe but I think with this possible amnesia you really need to go. There's no telling what kinda of damage has been done. I couldn't bear it if something happened to you, I love you too much."

"You love me?"

"Of course I do. I wouldn't have married you if I didn't. I'd better call Randy back and tell him what's going on."

"That was Randy on the phone earlier?" Jeff asked, remembering the fact she ended the call telling the person she loved them.

"Yeah, he was just calling to check up on you," she replied.

"But you told him you loved him," he pointed out.

"Of course I love him, he's my brother."

Jeff looked at her in disbelief, "Orton's your brother?"

"You don't remember that either. We're going to the hospital and that's final." She got up and walked around to Jeff's side of the bed. She picked up her cell phone and dialled a number ended the call immediately when she got his voice mail. "Damnit, his battery must be dead." She sat down on the edge of her bed and took his hand in hers, "Even if they can't do anything at the hospital we'll figure something out okay?"

"Okay … I think I'm going to take a shower first."

"Usually I'd ask if you'd like me to join you but I don't think that would help right now," Maria admitted. She released his hand and moved further down the bed so he could get out.

He pulled back the covers and sat up, "Probably not but it could be fun." Was he flirting again? He couldn't seem to help himself as she was being so nice to him. He'd definitely woken up in the land of the bizarre and all his strong feeling of hatred he'd felt towards her had suddenly vanished. Just what the fuck was going on?


	2. Chapter 2

**Note - Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please keep them coming. I'm so glad to be writing this story again, even if it is now with a different pairing. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 2

A small white lie from Randy had lead to them receiving information about Jeff's condition at the hospital. It wasn't looking good. The next twenty four hours were critical and if he survived that the forty eight fours that followed would more likely than not determine if he was going to make it.

The redhead couldn't quite believe what she'd been hearing, "This is my fault."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ria. This was an accident. I keep telling you, it wasn't your fault."

"But I told him to drop dead and now he's in a coma."

Randy shook his head, "And since when does Hardy listen to you? The answer to that question is never. Do you really think he'd give you the satisfaction of being able to put him in a coma?"

"But … but."

"No buts Maria, this was an accident, pure and simple."

"I guess but it doesn't stop me feeling guilty. What if he dies, Randy? How am I going to live with that?"

Randy took hold of her hand, giving it a gently squeeze, "Don't even think about that. He's going to be okay. We just gotta believe he's gonna be okay."

Elsewhere …

After a visit to the hospital, which had turned out to be a complete waste of time, Jeff and Maria had headed to the airport and were now currently waiting for their flight back to North Carolina to board.

"I can't believe what the doctor said, what a total jerk," Maria stated from her position next to Jeff.

"He was just doing his job but you sure let him have it," Jeff replied.

"Yeah, well. He totally deserved it. How dare he call us time wasters? I have a good mind to report him … to … to the hospital board or something."

"Okay, calm down, you'll give yourself a heart attack." He could quite believe how worked up she'd gotten at the hospital. She sure seemed to care about him a lot.

"I'm fine babe, don't worry about me. I'm just worried about you. Is anything coming back to you yet?"

"Nope, maybe when we get home," he said, trying his best to sound hopeful.

She reached out and squeezed his hand, "It will be okay, Jeff. I'll take good care of you."

He turned to look at her, "I don't doubt it." It was the truth. Whatever was going on here, there was no doubt that she loved him.

"Ooh, that's us," she told him as their flight was announced. She shouldered her carry on when she stood up and Jeff did the same.

The plane journey had taken a little over two hours. The ride from the airport to their house had taken a further forty minutes. Once they had arrived home, Maria had set about the task of sorting out the laundry while Jeff had been ordered to take a nap. However, he hadn't done that. Instead he'd used the time to switch on the laptop that he'd found in their bedroom. He planned on using it to look up some information on the internet to see if that could help him figure out exactly what was wrong.

Once the computer had been turned on, Jeff immediately hit a snag. Windows was asking for his password and he didn't have a clue what it could be. As curiosity was getting the better of him, he decided the best thing to do was just to ask Maria what it was. "Maria?" he yelled out.

"Yes, babe?" his wife yelled back.

"What's my window's password?" When he didn't get a reply, Jeff assumed that she hadn't heard him. He was about to venture out of the bedroom when he heard sounds of footsteps coming up the stairs.

The door opened and Maria stepped inside, "You've forgotten that too?"

"Yup."

"Boobies."

Jeff shot her a confused look, "Excuse me?"

"Boobies," Maria repeated. "That's your password."

He raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

Maria rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you kept forgetting it so you made it real easy to remember. It's all lower case too."

Jeff was a little sceptical but typed the word into the computer anyway. Within seconds, his desktop setting were loading, "It worked."

"Why wouldn't it?"

The green eyed man shrugged, "No reason I guess."

"Is there anything else I can do for you? Do you want something to drink?" Maria asked.

"Nah, I'm good, thanks."

"Okay, I'm gonna go back downstairs." She was about to leave the room when she suddenly stopped and turned back to face him, "What are you doing on there anyways? I thought you were gonna take a nap?"

"I'm not that tired," Jeff admitted, "So I thought I'd do a little surfing instead."

Maria raised an eyebrow, "You, surfing?"

Jeff laughed nervously, "Yeah, you don't have a problem with that do you?" He double clicked on the Firefox icon on the desktop only to get a connection error message. "The net ain't working."

The blue haired woman made a face, "It plays up a lot. You'll have to do your surfing another time, Jeffy."

Jeff shrugged, "I guess so."

"Anything coming back to you yet?" Maria asked suddenly.

"No, this sucks."

"I'm sure it will. I'm so kicking Dolph's ass when I see him next. He made you forget me."

"I didn't forget you," Jeff said instantly. For some reason, he wanted to reassure her, even if she wasn't really his wife.

"You just don't remember marrying me. It was such a beautiful wedding too."

"It was? Maybe you could tell me about it sometime."

His wife smiled, "How about right now?" She sat down on the bed next to him, "We were married outside in the backyard."

"What here?"

"Yeah, we had to get special permission to get married here but it was totally worth it. The wedding reception was … Smashing."

Jeff rubbed his face for a moment, "Smashing?"

"Yeah, literally smashing and it was all your fault," Maria teased.

He frowned, "What did I do?"

"We had a buffet and for some strange reason you decided to make a little speech before you starting eating." She paused for a moment to smile at the memory, "And then your plate slipped out of your hand and smashed on the floor."

Jeff cringed, "Oh …"

"And just as it hit the ground you said fucking hell right into the microphone. It was really loud."

"That's not good."

"Are you kidding me? It was hilarious. And the best bit was because I'm Greek, all my relatives thought we were keeping with tradition and smashed their plates too. My nine year old cousin even joined in with your cussing. My aunt was not very happy about that, let me tell you."

"I bet."

"We were cleaning up bit of broken plates for months afterwards but it was totally worth it … Best day of my life."

Jeff studied her closely, "You really mean that don't you?"

"Of course I do, babe. I just hope you remember it soon. This amnesia thing you have going on is worrying me," Maria admitted.

"I'm okay," Jeff lied in an attempt to comfort her. He still didn't know what was going on or how he ended up here but it was clear it was some sort of alternative universe and he's taken the place of another Jeff Hardy. One who was very much in love with Maria Kanellis. The girl he hated.

"I'm not buying that for a second, buddy. Anyways, you should rest and hopefully things will start to come back to you." Without warning she leaned in and kissed him once on the lips. "I'll be back later to check up on you."

"Okay." Jeff waited for her to leave the room before he turned his attention back to the laptop. Maybe something else on here would give him more of a clue as to what was going on. He tried the internet connection again but it still wasn't working so instead he clicked on a folder on the desktop labelled photos. After a couple of seconds the folder opened and more subfolders were revealed. One called Summer 08 caught his eye and he decided to open that one first. After selecting the view as a slide show option, Jeff sat back and watched as the photos came on the screen. There were lots of him and Maria in various locations. After a couple of minutes he hit the pause button as a certain picture of Maria appeared. She was wearing a simple blue tank top and smiling brightly at the camera. But what had caught his eye was the tattoo on her upper arm which read, 'Maria loves Jeff forever'. "What the fuck?"

Unable to stop himself, Jeff marched back downstairs to find his wife. He didn't have to look very far as she was sitting at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Maria?"

She turned around to face him, "Yes?"

"Have you got a tattoo?"

His wife nodded, "Uh huh."

"When did you get it done?" Jeff asked.

"Two and a half years ago maybe, I'm not exactly sure. Why do you want to know? Do you remember?"

"No, saw it on a photo. Did Shannon do it?"

"Yeah."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure, not like you haven't seen it before but whatever …" She unzipped the dark blue hoodie she was wearing and slipped her arm out of the sleeve on the left hand side to reveal the tattoo.

"Wow."

Maria grinned at him, "It was part of my gimmick at one point but back then it was airbrushed on. Such a pain in the ass so in the end I just got it done properly."

Back in reality …

Maria was sat next to Jeff's unconscious body, hoping and praying he would wake up any second. Randy had left her to get some coffee for both of them as the redhead had refused to leave Jeff's side. She was still feeling really guilty about what had happened to Jeff If only she hadn't had that argument with him and told him to drop dead then maybe he wouldn't be lying in the hospital right now hooked up to numerous machines all monitoring his condition.

A few minutes later when Randy had returned, the diva had accepted the coffee from him and drank it quickly.

"Maria, I think we should head back to the hotel soon."

"You go ahead," Maria replied, "I'm gonna stay here."

"Why?" Randy asked, "It's not like you can do anything. The nurses have my cell phone number, I can ask them to call if there's any change in his condition."

"This is all my fault, I can't leave him on his own."

Randy scowled, "Not this again. For the last time, this isn't your fault Maria. And besides, Matt's on his way, he won't be on his own for long."

Maria folded her arms across her chest defiantly, "I'm not leaving, Randy."

Randy rolled his eyes, "Then I guess I'm staying here too."

"You really don't have to."

"I'm not going to leave you alone so you can keep blaming yourself."

"I'm not alone, Jeff's here with me," Maria said lamely.

Randy shook his head, "You're not getting rid of me, Ria so I guess we're both staying."

The redhead smiled weakly, "I guess we are. Thanks Randy."

"You're welcome."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming. This chapter is quite a bit shorter than the last but it felt like the right place to leave it. Please R & R.**

Chapter 3

Maria cringed when Matt Hardy entered Jeff's hospital room, the look on his face told her immediately that he wasn't happy. And who could blame him? He was probably really pissed at her for what had happened.

"Hey, I got here as soon as I could. Is there any change?" Matt asked.

"No, no change," Maria replied, quietly. "I'm so sorry, Matt."

Matt frowned, "What for?"

"This is all my fault."

Matt shook his head, "No it's not. Orton told me you were blaming yourself and I gotta tell you Maria, it's not your fault. If it's everybody's fault, it's Jeff's. Don't go beating yourself up about it okay?"

"But …"

"No buts. We don't need negative energy in here right, now. We need to stay positive. Okay?"

Maria nodded, "Okay."

Elsewhere …

Jeff was currently scrolling through his contacts in his cell phone. For some reason, none of his brother's numbers were listed. Finding that odd, he had decided to ask his wife about it. She was sat on the bed of their hotel room, flicking through a fashion magazine to pass the time before they were heading to the arena for RAW.

"Maria?"

The blue haired beauty looked up from the page she was reading, "Yes babe?"

"Why aren't any of Matt's numbers in my cell phone?"

Maria chewed on her bottom lip, "Well … Um …"

Jeff frowned, "He is okay, right? Nothing has happened to him?"

"He's perfectly fine apart from being the biggest asshole on the planet," Maria replied bitterly.

"What?"

Maria sighed, "Really, Dolph Ziggler is a dead man when I get my hands on him. You and Matt don't talk anymore. It's my fault."

Jeff got up from the chair he was sitting on and sat down next to his wife on the bed, "What happened?"

"Matt and me just don't get along. He didn't like it when we started dating and he pretty much accused me of using you to try and further my own career which is total bullshit by the way. Before the wedding he said you had to make a choice and if you went through with the wedding he wanted nothing more to do with you."

"Oh …"

She reached out and touched his arm, "I'm sorry you don't remember that."

Jeff shook his head not quite believing what he was he was hearing. He and Matt would never fall out especially not over a woman. "When did all this happen?"

"Two years ago and I hate to cut this short but we really should be getting to the arena. We have lots to sort out before the match with Mel and Randy."

Realising he wasn't going to get anymore information out of Maria Jeff simply nodded, "Cool, I'm ready to go."

Maria smiled, "I'm just gonna use the bathroom real quick and then we'll hit the road."

The green eyed man offered his wife a small smile as she got up from the bed and disappeared. He was still having trouble believing that him and Matt didn't even like each other any more, this was certainly a bizarre world he'd woken up in. Little did Jeff know, it was about to get even more bizarre once they reached the arena.

When they had arrived backstage, Jeff had been given the WWE championship belt which had truly surprised him. When had he become WWE champion? He certainly wasn't complaining about that one though. Maria had explained that the champions no longer carried their own belts unless it was for an appearance due to one of the belts being stolen a few months back. Jeff had found that odd but hadn't commented on it.

Jeff and Maria were currently sat in a small room planning their match with Randy and his wife Melina. That was another thing that had surprised Jeff. Although Randy and Melina were apparently married in real life, there was to be no mention of it on screen.

"Okay, so I think we have nearly everything apart from the finish. How about Poetry in motion on Randy? He tags in Mel and then Twist of Fate and a Swanton?"

Melina nodded, "Sounds good to me." She noticed that Jeff was frowning, "What's wrong?"

"No offense but I'd feel more comfortable hitting the Swanton on Randy."

Maria laughed, "You're not finishing the match babe. I am."

Jeff shot her a what the fuck face, "You're doing the Swanton?"

"Well duh, it is my finishing move."

"It is?"

"You okay dude?" Randy asked.

"He's still having trouble with his memory," Maria said before Jeff could answer. "I'm really going to kill that moron Dolph. I think it will be for the best if we limit Jeff's ring time for the match. I don't want him getting another blow to the head."

"I'm okay."

Maria smiled, "No you're not so don't even think about lying to me buddy."

"I'm not … honest."

The blue haired bombshell kissed him once on the lips, "You better be or I'm adding you to my list."

Jeff frowned, "What list?"

"The list of people who's ass I'm gonna kick." Maria winked at him, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and make myself look beautiful."

"You're already beautiful," Jeff replied, the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop them.

Maria shot him a bright smiled, "Awww, you're so cute. I love you, Jeff Hardy."

Jeff looked back at his wife, he knew she was expecting him to answer her but he was unsure of what he should say, he didn't love her, he wasn't really her husband. "Ditto."

Randy laughed, "What you love yourself?"

"Shut up, Randall," Maria replied, "Everybody knows Jeff loves me."

The Legend Killer nodded, "Yeah, it's so sickening for the rest of us to watch."

"Then don't watch."

Randy grinned, "I thought you were going?"

"I am." Maria turned her attention to her sister in law, "You coming Mel?"

"Yeah, catch you guys later."

"Later babe," Randy replied smoothly.

A few hours later, Jeff was standing in the gorilla position with Randy. He was dressed in his usual black ring attire. He was pleased that at least that hadn't changed, the WWE championship belt was wrapped around his waist. He was reading to go. They were just waiting for their tag partners to arrive.

"Oh here they come now," Randy pointed out.

Jeff's jaw dropped when he turned out to watch them coming, Maria was dressed in matching ring attire to him even down to the armband and around her waist was the WWE women's championship belt. That couldn't be right, "You're women's champion?"

Maria grinned, "Uh huh."

"You're dressed like me …"

His wife frowned at him, "Yeah, we're a team, Jeff. We dress alike. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine … Okay apart from the memory loss I'm fine. Good to go, I swear."

"You'd better be or I'm …"

Jeff grinned, "Kicking my ass. I know."

"Alright then, let's do this." She double highfived with Melina. "Stay safe, guys."

"You too," Melina replied. She and Randy disappeared through the curtain as Randy's music hit.

Jeff took a moment to study Maria, she sure was pumped up for the match but before he could make a comment to her, his music started and she was pulling him through the curtain.

"And making their way to the ring, from Cameron, North Carolina, the team of WWE women's champion, Maria Hardy and WWE champion Jeff Hardy … The Hardys," Lilian Garcia announced on the microphone.

Jeff was so blown away by the crowd reaction he almost forgot to do his little dance. They were going crazy as he and his wife made their way to ring side. Just what the hell was going on here?


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you're all still enjoying. I also wanted to say, as much as I dislike Matt Hardy, I don't think he would ever do what he does in the Elsewhere part of this chapter but it's purely for plot purposes only. Please R & R.**

Chapter 4

She wasn't sure when, but sometime in the last hour or so, Maria had taken hold of Jeff's left hand and she had yet to let it go. She'd been pleading with him to wake up but of course he hadn't. Maybe Randy was right, since when did Jeff listen to her? It still did nothing to ease the guilt she was feeling, especially when the Doctor had arrived to check up on Jeff and had informed her that he had a tremendous amount of brain activity going on. Her first thought that popped into her head had been, 'well that must be a first'.

"Come on Jeff, please wake up."

Elsewhere …

The match had gone off without a hitch, Jeff found himself watching every move his wife made in the ring. He couldn't get over how great she was. The Maria he knew was mediocre in the ring at her best, not that he really took much notice of her matches. When they had reached the backstage area, Maria had gone back to the women's locker room to get changed and Jeff was currently making his way to the male locker room. That was when he saw him … His brother was walking towards him at a fast pace, "Hey Matt."

Matt Hardy stopped dead in his tracks, "Don't hey Matt me."

Jeff frowned, despite the fact that Maria had told him that he and Matt didn't get along anymore he was still hoping that she was exaggerating, "Come on man, don't be like that."

"Like what? How am I supposed to be with my worse enemy?" Matt asked.

"Worse enemy? I'm your brother."

"You're nothing to me … How many times have I got to tell you that? You picked that fucking bitch over me."

Jeff felt himself beginning to get angry, "Don't call her that."

Matt laughed bitterly, "It's the truth. She's nothing but a whore who's only with you to further her career."

"That's not true man, she loves me."

The black haired man scoffed, "She doesn't know the meaning of the word love. She's probably sleeping with half the locker room behind your back but you're just too stupid to see it."

Something inside Jeff snapped, "You take that back dude."

His brother rolled his eyes, "It's the truth. Now get out of my way."

Jeff stood his ground, "Make me."

Before Jeff knew what was happened his brother had rammed up hard up against the wall and had his hands around Jeff's throat, effectively choking him. The green eyed man was finding it harder and harder to breathe when suddenly Matt released him. Jeff could hear a female screaming and it only took him a moment to realise it was Maria. She had jumped on Matt's back and was punching him hard in the chest or at least she was. Without warning Matt rammed her backwards into the wall. The back of her head hit the wall hard. She immediately stopped punching him and slid off his back onto the floor.

Jeff dropped to the floor and was by her side in an instant, "Get the hell away from her, you bastard."

"Let this is a warning to both of you, stay the hell out of my way," Matt yelled out before marching down the hallway.

"Urgh," Maria moaned, grabbing the back of her head where it had connected with the wall.

"Are you okay?" Jeff asked.

"I dunno," Maria replied softly. "Are you okay? I thought he was going to kill you."

"I'm fine just worried about you." He reached out and stroked her face gently. "Can you get up?"

"I'm not sure but I think it might be best just to stay here for a little while … feeling kind of sleepy," Maria admitted.

"No!" The word came out of his mouth louder than he expected, "You can't stay here, we have to get you up and about. No sleep for you just yet."

"Why not?" she asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Because you might not wake up. That's why."

Maria closed her eyes, "But I'm sleepy …"

"Stay with me, Maria. I just found you, I don't want to lose you."

The blue haired diva opened her eyes again, "I love you, Jeff."

"I love you too, Maria. Now, let's get you checked out in the trainer's office." Jeff scooped her up into his arm and carried her back down the hallway. It didn't take them long to reach the trainer's office.

"What happened?" the trainer asked.

"She hit the back of the head against the wall … It was a pretty hard impact, she keeps closing her eyes."

"Can you put her down of the couch for me?"

Jeff nodded and put Maria down as instructed, "Is she gonna be alright?"

"Too early to say but you did the right thing by bringing her here so quickly. Can you wait outside?"

"I want him to stay," Maria spoke up.

"Okay."

Maria smiled weakly, "Thank you."

Jeff watched in silence as the trainer set about performing certain tests on his wife. He still couldn't believe what Matt had done. The Matt he knew would never do anything like that to a woman. It didn't make any sense. Nor did the sudden feelings that he felt towards Maria and it wasn't just because she'd put her body on the line to help save him from Matt. When he'd seen her slumped on the ground, he felt this overwhelming urge to comfort and take care of her. She looked so small and helpless. He shouldn't be feeling like this. She wasn't really his wife, she was another Jeff Hardy's wife. And the more time he spent with her, the more he found himself wishing she was his wife.

Five hours later, Jeff and Maria had returned to their hotel room. Despite apparently refusing to go to a hospital himself a few days ago, Jeff had insisted that Maria followed the Trainer's advice and went to be checked out. It had taken a while for them to be seen but Jeff hadn't cared about that. His only concern was that Maria was okay.

Now they were side by side in the queen sized bed and when Jeff turned to look at her he found her lying on her side, facing him with the smallest hint of a smile on her face, "What?"

"What?" She echoed his question.

For a reason he couldn't fathom, Jeff found himself smiling at her, "You look like you want to say something."

"I was just wondering if it was sleepy time yet …"

Jeff raised an eyebrow, "Sleepy time?"

"Yeah, you know, you lay down, close your eyes and have wild dreams about the fact you're married to the sexiest man alive."

The green eyed man blushed, "Oh …"

"You're embarrassed … I haven't seen you embarrassed in such a long time," Maria admitted.

Jeff smiled at her, "I guess it is sleepy time then … Goodnight Maria."

"Good night Jeff." She moved forward and wrapped her arm around his back and kissed him on the lips. After about ten seconds she pulled back again, "You would have gotten way more than that but my head is still killing me. Love you, babe."

Just as Jeff was about to reply, he saw Maria's eyes close, "I think I love you too, Maria," he whispered.

The two had woken the next day around mid-morning. Instead of venturing out to the hotel's restaurant, they had ordered room service for breakfast. As Smackdown was being taped in an arena that was only sixty miles away, they were staying at the hotel again tonight.

Maria had just returned from the bathroom when Jeff decided he should tell her what was going on. She was probably going to think he was crazy but she deserved to know the truth, "Maria, there's something I've got to tell you and it can't wait …"

Maria's face turned serious, "What is it?"

"I'm not who you think I am."

Maria made a face and sat down on the edge of the bed, "What?"

"I'm not who you think I am," Jeff repeated.

"Jeff, what are you going on about? You're Jeff Hardy right?"

"Yeah but I'm not the Jeff Hardy you know."

"Wait … I'm confused, there's two of you?"

"Yes … No … I don't know," Jeff replied truthfully, "I'm not sure how many of us there are but I just know, I'm not your Jeff."

Maria smiled at him, "Is this some sort of rib?"

"No, of course not."

"Then what because you're not making any sense …"

"Remember when I woke up in the hotel room the other morning and I didn't know what was going on?"

"That was because of the amnesia, babe."

"I don't think I have amnesia, Maria. I'm just not your Jeff Hardy."

"Of course you're my Jeff Hardy, you're exactly like him."

"No, I'm not. Where I come from, you and me? We don't even like each other. It's like I told you when I woke up that day … We had an argument, I called you a fucking bitch. Wait not you … My Maria."

"I am your Maria, Jeff," Maria protested.

"No, you're not."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I love you and I hate her."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing but the plot line.**

**Notes: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. Please keep them coming. Just a small note to say that time passes more quickly in Elsewhere than in the normal world. Hopefully it will all make sense later. That said, enjoy the next chapter. It's slightly shorter than usual, though.**

Chapter 5

Maria awoke suddenly at the sound of her name being called. She sat bolt up right in the chair she was in, "What?"

Matt smiled at her, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you … Have you been here all night?"

The redhead frowned, "What time is it?" She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up fully.

"It's ten am."

"I guess I must have fallen asleep. Is there any change?"

Matt shook his head, "No, but the doctors are taking it as a positive sign that he made it through the night."

Maria smiled weakly at the older Hardy, "Right, I just wish he would wake up."

The black haired man nodded, "Yeah, me too."

Elsewhere …

Jeff wasn't sure that Maria had believed what he'd just told her but before he had a chance to question her about it, Randy and Melina had arrived at their hotel room. They were riding together to the Smackdown tapings and Jeff had decided he would talk to his wife about it later when they were alone again.

Once they had arrived at the arena, Maria had been told to report Stephanie's office immediately which made Jeff extremely curious as to what that was all about. His wife had only been gone about twenty minutes when she reappeared suddenly and from the look on her face she was anything but happy.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

"Can you say anything else but fuck?" Jeff asked, highly amused by Maria's outburst.

"Shit … Fucking asshole."

Jeff frowned, "Who me?"

Maria shook her head, "Of course not. Your fucking brother, that's who."

At the mention of Matt, Jeff began to feel anger rising inside him again, "What did he do now? He didn't hurt you did he?"

The blue haired beauty looked away and then back at her husband, "No I'm fine … He got me suspended."

"He what?"

"I've been suspended for sixty days for attacking him in the hallway last night. I've got to drop the title to Mel tonight."

"What the fuck? This can't happen. I'll come with you to Stephanie, I'll explain that you were trying to stop Matt from hurting me."

"That won't do any good, babe," Maria replied sadly.

"Why not?"

Maria looked up and down the hallway to make sure nobody else was listening, "Because Matt and Stephanie are having an affair."

"What? No way."

"She does whatever he wants her to. It makes me sick."

"But you're the Women's champion, she can't just strip you on the title."

"She already has and if I go quietly I'll still have a job to come back to," Maria explained. "Big whoop."

Jeff reached for her hand and took it into her own, "I'm so sorry … This is all my fault."

Maria shook her head, "No, babe, it's not."

"But you were just helping me. I can't believe Matt's pulled this shit."

"You better believe it. You're brother is an evil bastard and he gets his kicks from making me unhappy."

After everything that happened, Jeff still couldn't believe his brother could actually stoop that low, "There's got to be something we can do."

Maria squeezed his hand, "It's a nice thought but there isn't. That doesn't mean I'm leaving quietly though."

Jeff raised an eyebrow, "What did you have in mind?"

The soon to be former Women's champion smiled, "You'll just have to wait and find out. I'm going to get ready for my match." She kissed him soundly on the lips before walking away.

A few hours later and Jeff was standing in the gorilla position waiting for his cue to go out and rescue his fallen wife. In the storyline, she had been the victim of a sneak attack by Randy Orton before her match with Melina had even begun. One RKO later and there was a new women's champion. As the bell rang and Melina was announced the winner, Jeff sprinted down the entrance ramp before Randy and Melina could further attack his wife. Once he had chased off the heels, he collected Maria in his arms and carried her carefully back up the ramp and through the curtain. Maria played dead until they were out of sight of the fans.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "My hero."

Jeff smiled at her, "I don't know about that … I wish there was something we could do about your suspension."

"Don't worry about it." She leaned up and kissed him on the lips.

"Get a room, you two," Randy called out from behind them.

Maria pulled back and motioned for Jeff to put her down. Once both feet were back on the floor, she turned to face her brother, "We have a room, thank you and I plan on making full use of it later but first there is something I have to do." She turned her attention to the new Women's champion, "Congrats Mel."

Melina gave her a small smile, "Not the way I wanted to win the title back."

"I know …. Maybe when I get back I'll get a rematch ..." The blue haired beauty trailed off as she caught sight of Matt standing in the distance. "Excuse me, this will just take a second."

Jeff watched as his wife approached his brother, he had no idea what she was going to do and that made him a little nervous.

Maria was now face to face with Matt, "I suppose you think you're real clever don't you?"

Matt sneered at her, "I don't think it, I know it … Matt fact, Matt is extremely intelligent. But what are you still doing here? From what I heard, you got suspended."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm going alright but first I wanted to give you something. A little leaving gift."

Matt frowned, "What is it?"

Maria smirked at him and without further warning smacked him hard on the nose. She shook her hand, which stung from the impact, "Now that is worth getting suspended for."

The black haired man grabbed his nose which was starting to bleed, "You fucking bitch … I think you broke my nose."

Maria smiled sweetly at him, "Well good, that was the plan."

"I'm gonna get you for this."

"Bring it on. If you think I'm scared of you, you've got another thing coming. But you should probably go and put some ice on your nose, it will help with the swelling." She turned away from the elder Hardy and returned to her husband. "I'm gonna go and get changed and then I'll wait for you in the car. Stephanie is probably gonna be pissed at me when she hears about this."

Jeff just looked at her in amazement not quite believing what he'd just witnessed, "That was unbelievable, I can't believe you did that."

Maria frowned slightly, "You're not mad at me are you?"

"Hell no, it was just unexpected."

The former Women's champion smiled, "It's me … You should expect the unexpected when I'm around baby. It's one of the reasons you married me after all."

Jeff just nodded as she walked away towards the women's locker room. He waited until she was out of sight before turning his attention to his brother but before he could say a word, Matt spoke.

"Did you see what that fucking bitch did to me?"

The WWE champion made a face, "What she did to you? Are you kidding me? You got her suspended for two months and cost her the title and what for?"

Matt faked innocence, "She attacked me for no reason."

"Like fuck she did. You were fucking choking me. Stay away from me and stay away from my wife," Jeff replied slowly.

"I have no problem with that. As far as I'm concerned I no longer have a brother."

Jeff balled his hand into a fist, "Fine by me … I don't even know who you are anymore. You're not the person I thought you were." He turned away when Matt snorted in response and walked towards the locker room. He didn't have a match tonight so he was finished for the evening and right now the only thing on his mind was getting back to Maria. He wasn't even sure why he was suddenly feeling the need to spend more and more time with her.

It was a couple of hours later by the time he and Maria had returned to their hotel room. Randy and Melina had invited them for drinks in the hotel bar but Maria had turned down the offer, insisting that she was tired. However as Jeff had just discovered that had been a lie on his wife's part and she'd just wanted the two of them to spend some quality alone time together.


End file.
